


For every bird there is a stone

by SerialKillerQueen



Series: Difficult Girl(s) [18]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Backstory, F/F, Female Friendship, Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, Genderswap, Heather's sassy, Implied Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Mentioned Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Minor Injuries, Secrets, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 00:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20805266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerialKillerQueen/pseuds/SerialKillerQueen
Summary: Billie tries to find her friends. Heather wants to know what's going on.





	For every bird there is a stone

**Author's Note:**

> We are currently telling our backstory through italicized flashbacks, they are going backwards from the last flashback at the bottom of the previous fic! (That may sound confusing but it shouldn't be to read).  
Stranger Things and its characters do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.

_Glass audibly crunches underneath Billie's boots, and she winces almost imperceptibly. _

__Find Maddie and Nico, no time to be a pussy about this._ She tells herself, and begins walking through the woods. In the snow. In the middle of the night._

_She is many things but never let it be said she's a coward, maybe a moron for doing this, but not a coward._

_She wasn't even sure what had _happened_, only that it was bad, she'd heard a scream and what sounded like a window shattering, followed by Maddie rushing into the room, shouting "Nico's gone!" and running out the front door and _into this fucking weather.__

_Maddie has already vanished from her line of sight despite her attempts to keep up, and she's wondering at her chances for contacting some kind of _help_ (they're not good) when her next step sends her tumbling into the darkness._

_She groans under her breath as she sits up, that was one hell of a fall, or rough slide if you want specifics._

_Outside the moon had been full and bright, but in this... cave? It's almost pitch black. _

_Privately, she thinks she could really use a cigarette right about now, that and to slap someone._

_As she climbs to her feet she realizes her coat is torn so badly it's practically useless, falling off of her, which probably explains why she's not in more pain. (Did Maddie fall down here too? Is that why she'd lost track of her?)_

_Also means she's stuck here with only her outer shirt and thin undershirt on._

_Not ideal._

_She pulls out her lighter and flicks it on, hoping it will last for a while, and turns to look at where she'd fallen from._

_The drop is surprisingly steep, not to far, but looking at the iced over wall in front of her... she's not going to be climbing back out. _

_"Fuck."_

Privately, Heather thought Stephanie was right. The presence of Billie's friends had brought out something in her that she hadn't really ever seen, not up close. 

The other girl had gotten snappier, more defensive. It wasn't to a huge degree, she hadn't gotten into a fight (with her words or fists), but she talked less, she picked up the kids less, she spent more nights at her own apartment and less at Stephanie's, and she'd called her to come over and help keep her balanced every night for the last three days. 

The thing was, she wasn't sure she could blame it on Maddie or Nico. Not entirely, not like Stephanie and Max were doing. Because she'd seen Billie when she was anxious, when she was afraid, when she felt unsure, and those girls didn't bring that out in her, not once when she'd seen them together had Billie seemed afraid of them, or worried about them.

So it was something else to do with them being here.

And speaking of girls that were being a pain in her very nice ass; Stephanie had started acting weird too, she'd started pulling Johanna aside and whisper arguing with her almost every day. 

She'd also (according to Billie) been talking to Jane Hopper and John Byers almost as frequently.

She didn't know what was going on with them, and she was getting tired of it.

_"You're... sure?"_

_"I know what I saw Nico, do you really think an _animal_ did this?"_

_Nico looked over at her, the blood from her multitude of cuts and scrapes standing out starkly against her dark skin, and all Billie could do was avert her eyes, which was clearly not the backup that Maddie had hoped for._

_She wasn't sure what Maddie had or had not seen (she knew she'd seen something though), she'd been to distracted by what she could _hear._ _

_It didn't make _sense_ but she knew what she'd heard in that cave -_

_" - something _really_ wrong. I know it, Billie does too."_

_She tuned back into the conversation, and she knew that Maddie was right. There was something wrong here, had been almost from the jump. _

_As she opens her mouth to agree she saw a flash, moonlight reflecting off of something resting in the snow, and before she could stop and think (didn't her father always say she didn't think before she acted?) she walks over and reaches for it._

_A blade, a machete specifically, and it looked like it was in relatively good shape. How had it ended up here? Who had... had lost it?_

_She'd never really had a weapon before, had -on rare occasion- gotten into scraps when her mood was particularly bad, but she'd never had a knife on her, or a gun, had never thought she'd need something that could do that kind of damage. _

_But being here? She knew, in her gut, in her primal brain, that she could not afford to be defenseless._

_"Maddie's right Nico, and we can't stand around and wait to get our asses killed."_

_Nico looks between the two of them, then slowly nods, her throat flexing nervously._

_"Maddie I... there was something on the maps. An old cabin, I think a veteran lived there? But our parents made him leave when they realized he was here. Maybe there's something useful?"_

_Maddie nods._

**Author's Note:**

> Man our flashback crew have really gotten themselves into a pickle haven't they? All will be revealed, and while I'm trying to keep the flashbacks in an order, we will variate to see what happened in that cave in the next fic if all goes according to plan!  
Heather's wonderful isn't she?
> 
> Title is from the poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith, all rights go to their respective owners.
> 
> Check the mycast for faceclaim references!  
https://www.mycast.io/stories/p/mLM9vESd2bfJh7lY0s6o5g


End file.
